Early Riders | Open Range Weekly | 9.28.25
Vanguard weighed opening brokerage access to bitcoin and digital asset ETFs, Morgan Stanley moved to let E*TRADE clients trade bitcoin via its newly backed zerohash, and Kraken explored a strategic investor ahead of a planned IPO. On the issuer side, Tether sought a roughly $500B valuation and Circle evaluated reversible stablecoin transactions, while Strive–Semler Scientific announced an all-stock merger that the market initially faded. In Asia, a Naver/Upbit stock-swap would tuck Korea’s largest exchange under a tech-finance giant. Policy and surveillance stayed active with a BPI nation-state adoption report and SEC outreach on unusual trading around corporate crypto purchases.
Bitcoin Update
Bitcoin fell 5.5% on the week amid the Kabuki theatre of a looming government shutdown and pressure on risk assets and the sell off of bitcoin treasury stocks.
Early Riders Media
Michael, Brian, and Liam discuss the latest in capital formation, market structure, and bitcoin adoption on this week's podcast.
Michael, Liam, Matt, and Chase discussed the latest in enterprise bitcoin adoption, yeild traps, and best practices in the most recent bitcoin for businesses podcast.
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Industry & Institutional Updates
Vanguard considered offering brokerage clients access to third-party crypto ETFs, signaling a potential shift from its prior stance.
Tether sought a ~$500B valuation in a new capital raise for the stablecoin giant.
Kraken mulled taking on a strategic investor at a ~$20B valuation ahead of a planned IPO.
Strive & Semler Scientific announced an all-stock merger, combining strategies and balance sheets under a single platform, which resulted in negative public market reaction to both companies over the past week.
zerohash raised $104M with participation from Morgan Stanley, SoFi, and Apollo to expand embedded crypto infrastructure.
Morgan Stanley moved to let E*TRADE clients trade bitcoin and other digital assets through its newly backed zerohash.
Fold launched a bitcoin-only credit card with rewards of 2-3.5%, partnering with Stripe and Visa for processing and issuance.
Circle examined reversible transactions for its stablecoins, exploring mechanisms to address errors and fraud.
Naver / Upbit planned a stock-swap deal that would bring Korea’s largest exchange under Naver Financial’s umbrella, a South Korean internet giant.
Chart of the Week
Bitcoin Policy Institute published a report detailing existing and proposed nation state bitcoin adoption through seizures, purchases, and mining. The reports found ten known countries mining bitcoin today, with three proposing expansions.
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